[124] Properly, the name of the islet at Alexandria on which the lighthouse stood; hence the name was given to any lighthouse.
[125] A Dalmatian fortress captured by the Spaniards in the autumn of A.D. 1538, and recaptured by the Turks in the following August. Von Hammer, book xxix.
[126] ‘The straits of the Bosphorus are terminated by the Cyanean rocks, which, according to the description of the poets, had once floated on the face of the waters. The deception was occasioned by several pointed rocks alternately covered and abandoned by the waves. At present there are two small islands, one towards either shore; that of Europe is distinguished by the pillar of Pompey.’ Gibbon, chap. xvii.
[127] P. Gilles (or Gyllius) was born at Albi in 1490. He was sent by Francis I. to the Levant; the remittances he expected having miscarried, he was obliged to enlist in Solyman’s army and served against the Persians. In 1549 he received money from his friends, with which he purchased his discharge. He returned home in 1550, and died at Rome in 1555, the year that Busbecq wrote this letter. Besides other works he published three books on the Thracian Bosphorus, and four on the Topography and Antiquities of Constantinople. Gibbon quotes him frequently, and speaks of his learning with great respect.
[128] This passage appears to be founded on a mistranslation of Herodotus, iii. 104.
[129] ‘In the deep gullies and broad plateaus of Angora is bred the finest species of the mohair goat; its long silky and lustrous fleece is the principal export of the country, so much so that it is a common saying that “mohair is the soul of Angora,” without which it would have become a desert long ago. The mohair is forwarded on mule and camel back (in its raw state) to Constantinople, and thence, per steamer, to Liverpool; it all finds its way to Bradford to be manufactured. The export in this article alone was valued at 462,550l. for the year 1877, and in years of greater prosperity and higher values, this amount has been nearly doubled.’ Extract from the letter of the correspondent to the Standard newspaper, dated, Angora, October 1, 1878.
[130] The province of Angora occupies almost the same area as the ancient Galatia.
[131] See Herodotus, iii. 113. These sheep are very common in Asia and Africa. Great numbers are to be found at the Cape of Good Hope, whence they are called ‘Cape sheep.’
[132] Pierre Belon (Bellonus) was a contemporary of Busbecq’s, having been born about 1518. He travelled in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor. By profession a physician, he devoted himself to the pursuit of Natural Science. He published several books, and is generally considered to have been the founder of the science of Comparative Anatomy. Busbecq corrects Belon, but his own account of the hyena is wrong. It has vertebræ in the neck, and also an array of teeth. If he had been able to procure a specimen we should have had an accurate description. The Sultana, therefore, is indirectly responsible for the errors.
[133] The Kanûns formed a kind of Domesday Book, drawn up by the direction of Solyman, who thence received the name of Solyman Kanûni.